2015/December

December’s Coastal Commission hearing, held in Monterey, was alive with public comment. Several Monterey residents attended Wednesday's meeting to speak on a desalination plant proposed by California American Water during the public comment period. Concerns ranged from discrepancies in testing reports to a perceived lack of evidence backing Cal Am's claimed testing results. The controversy regarding the project will likely continue during the months to come. A number of individuals testified before the CCC asking they address the “severe degradation” caused by the CEMEX sand mining activities in southern Monterey Bay. Local citizens presented pictures of the rapidly diminishing beach and flooding due to the extensive sand mining. Surfrider representatives were among the many that spoke during public comment to discuss the “take of a public resource,” appealing for the Commission to take action.

Items of concern that were voted on during the hearing include the “Edge” development in Malibu of five residential properties in the Santa Monica Mountains; the longtime-in-the-making cease-and-desist – as well as the restoration – order for the Fred Segal Foundation camp in the Santa Monica Mountains; and the USC application to install an oyster aquaculture research facility in the Cat Harbor State Marine Conservation Area off Catalina Island.

“The Edge” development is commonly called so after the U2 guitarist who has been pursuing building several homes at least 10,000 square feet in size for the last decade in an otherwise undeveloped area of Malibu. During this time, environmental groups have fought the development. Through their efforts, the disturbance area of the project has been reduced by 43 percent, but the fact remains that this development is occurring in environmentally sensitive habitat areas (ESHA).

Since the purchase of the property in the early 1980s, the Fred Segal Foundation property has had a number of unpermitted developments including: the unpermitted subdivision of the lot; unpermitted placement of structures and infrastructure; removal of vegetation and more. This is significant as a large portion of the area is environmentally sensitive habitat area, and the development has resulted in the clearance of and impacts to sensitive habitat in the Santa Monica Mountains.

The University of Southern California Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies (USC-WIES) applied for a permit to install and operate a shellfish aquaculture research facility for five years within a state-designated Marine Protected Area (MPA) located in Catalina Harbor. Environmental groups expressed significant concern over such development happening within an MPA and the fact that the project uses non-native oysters –thus introducing a potentially invasive species to a protected marine habitat.

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